Tomorrow I go in for my second hip replacement of the year. I had my right hip replaced in June, and will be having the left done tomorrow. I was born with hip displaysia, but didn't really have problems, until I hit my late 20's. Of course, I shrugged it off, thinking it was a pinced nerve or something. It wasn't till I was in pain daily that I decided to go see the dr. He couldn't find anything on xrays, so he sends me to a specialist. Specialist couldn't find anything on xrays, but decides he's going to refer me to a dr he knows up at OHSU(ginormous hospital/college here in Oregon. They are AWESOME!!!!!!) Within a couple of minutes of looking at my xrays, she sees that my hips are not formed right, and that my femur is sticking out just ever so slightly outside the socket. Yay! an answer! We do a surgery that repairs the cartilage, shaves off the top part of the femur, and removes all the arthritis. Unfortunately, after a year of pt, not much improvement. Of course, I let it go for a while, till it became so debilitating, I had to see her again. Xrays show that I now no longer have any cartilage in that hip, and right hip is on its way out the door too. Yippee. She said that really all there is to do is replacement, but we should try steroid injections first. Steroid injections in both hips. Um, ouch! but just want to get it done. Instant relief! I was practically in tears, I was so happy. It was all I could do not to kiss the xray techs and dr that performed the procedure! Dr said that hopefully it would last 3 to 6 months. If we had to do it more often than that, it can be very damaging to the hip joint. Well, the injections lasted 2 weeks, to the day. I was so upset. So, fast forward about 6 months, and I set up my first hip replacement surgery. That was June of this year. Surgery went well. Unfortunately, got addicted to Oxycodone while I was at it. See, I had been on Oxy for about a year, about 5 -10mg a night, to help with the pain. Then, while in the hospital, after surgery, they were giving me 20mg every 3 hours. Thats 160mg of oxy a day! When I went home, I kept a log of how much pain meds I was taking and how often. I instantly started weaning myself. However, being as how I have never done this before, and have never been "addicted" to anything besides soda in my life, I didn't wean properly. I did way too much at time. Thus started a 3 month road trip to hell. I was constantly in the drs office, trying to help alleviate the symptoms, which were severe nausea, and anxiety so bad I felt like my body would explode. I tried so many different prescriptions, it was rediculous. I even ended up in the er, wanting some sort of relief. Nothing worked. Finally, my therapist that I see, prescribed a very simple, inexpensive, drug that worked! I could of tried stopping oxy cold turkey, but didn't. Most people that stop cold turkey, would go through anywhere from 24 hours of withdrawels to a few weeks of withdrawels. I was going through months of withdrawels, and I was still on the stupid drug! The drs said it was because I had had oxy in my system for so long, it was just going to be that much harder to get off. They didn't want me to decrease anymore, until I got stabalized. So, finally, about 12 weeks ago, I started the process of weaning myself off, at 10% a week. Now, mind you, I'm only on oxy at this time to manage withdrawel symptoms. I still have pain, but not taking enough oxy to touch it. Well, as of 2 weeks ago, I am pain med free!! Yay. Only problem is, I have surgery tomorrow, and will have to face some decisions. I've talked to the dr about alternative pain meds, but deep down, I know that there is a good chance I'll need to take oxy again. The pain from the last surgery was pretty intense. Oh well, at least I know what I'm in for this time around. I also know the right way to get off of them. Btw, the only reason I'm having the surgery so soon, is to avoid the $750.00 deductible we had to pay with the last surgery. Anyway, just thought I'd share. I think I just needed to vent, because unlike the first surgery, I'm actually pretty nervous and scared with this one. My husband doesn't really talk to me much about it. Sorry for the novel.
Last edited:
